Finance ministers and central bank presidents from the worlds seven major industrial countries - the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada - were scheduled to arrive Friday for discussions in this small snow-swept Canadian town about 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle.
The talks are expected to be dominated by the question of how much longer extraordinary government stimulus should be provided to lift economic growth.
The risks still facing the global economy were highlighted dramatically after bad economic news sent markets plunging around the world on Thursday.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell by 268 points or 2.6 - - - - >

The figures, released this week by the Ministry of Land and Resources, showed state land sales rising to a record, helping to fund the 4 trillion-yuan plan.
The risk for this year may be that real-estate sales and prices drop because of government efforts to cool the market, cutting into one of the main sources of revenue for the nations 31 provinces. Former Morgan Stanley chief Asian economist Andy Xie and Kynikos Associates Ltd. founder James Chanos have warned that the nation has a real-estate bubble that - - - - >

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told The Associated Press that federal safety officials had to “wake them up” to the seriousness of the safety issues that eventually led Toyota to recall millions of popular brands like Camry and Corolla. That included a visit to Toyotas offices in Japan to convince them to take action.
“They should have taken it seriously from the very beginning when we first started discussing it with them,” LaHood told AP. “Maybe they were a little safety deaf.”
LaHood also said the government was considering civil penalties for Toyota over its handling of the recalls but declined to elaborate. - - - - >

Foreclosures probably will reach 3 million this year, surpassing the record of 2.82 million in 2009, according to Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac Inc. That would more than offset an estimated 448,000-unit rise in home sales, based on the average forecast of the National Association of Realtors, the Mortgage Bankers Association and Fannie Mae.
The housing industry remains a challenge for Obama as he enters his second year of office and government assistance programs near expiration. Data this week showed home sales tumbled after the expected end of an - - - - >

The Department of Health and Human Services told Melbourne- based CSL on Dec. 30 it was cutting its order for vaccine against the H1N1 strain by 22 million doses to 14 million doses, CSL spokeswoman Rachel David said in an e-mail today. Vaccine- makers including London-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Baxter International Inc., of Deerfield, Illinois, also had orders cut even as governments stepped up efforts to promote the shot.
Vaccine demand has waned since suppliers overcame an initial shortage at the start of the Northern Hemisphere flu - - - - >

Chavez said the bolivar will now have two government-set rates: 2.60 to the dollar for transactions deemed priorities by the government, and 4.30 to the dollar for other transactions. The devaluation dropped the currencys value by 17 percent or 50 percent, depending on the tier.
The higher rate, which he called the “oil dollar,” will double the paper value of Venezuelas petroleum earnings when converted to local currency. Oil accounts for about half the government budget, but that income has been squeezed by lower world oil prices and declines in output in the last year.
Chavez said the priority exchange rate will - - - - >

Linus Chima, a Delta State spokesman, said the gunmen damaged the Makaraba pipeline southwest of Warri. That pipeline transports crude oil out of one of Chevrons seven swamp fields in the area, which produced 77,000 barrels of oil per day in 2008.
Chima said government officials still were working to determine who was responsible for the attack Friday. Chevron previously pulled out of the region in 2003 over vandalism and attacks by local militants, but returned in 2007.
Scott Walker, a spokesman for San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron, said early Saturday morning that he could not confirm the attack.
“We are not speculating on - - - - >

In unusually explicit remarks for a Japanese finance minister, Naoto Kan vowed to work closely with the central bank to steer the currency toward an “appropriate” level around 95 yen to the dollar.
He welcomed the yens recent retreat from the 14-year high of 84.83 against the dollar hit in November but indicated it hadnt fallen far enough. “I hope currency markets correct themselves further, weakening the yen,” he said.
That sent the dollar surging to a high for day of 92.87 yen from 92.20 yen just before the comments.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama formally installed Kan as new finance minister Thursday, replacing - - - - >

The government had details on both the suspected bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and plans by an al-Qaeda-affiliated group in Yemen to strike U.S. targets, Obama said. He blamed a breakdown in intelligence-sharing among agencies. The plot was foiled when the explosives failed to ignite and passengers and crew aboard the flight on Dec. 25 took action.
“The U.S. government had sufficient information to have uncovered this plot and potentially disrupt the Christmas Day attack,” Obama said at the White House yesterday after meeting with senior advisers. “This - - - - >

The fresh infusion is on top of $12.5 billion in taxpayer money Detroit-based GMAC has already received from the government. The new aid will boost the federal governments ownership in GMAC to 56 percent, from 35 percent, and means the U.S. now holds a majority stake in three companies that it bailed out with taxpayer funds - GMAC, General Motors and insurer American International Group Inc. The government also has taken control of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Keeping GMAC alive as it struggles with its mortgage loan problems has been a major component of the Obama administrations massive - - - - >